Hey guys, what does it mean when my exhaust starts to suck (literally). When I fired up my car today the exhaust started sputtering. At first I though that its no big deal it does it cause of the cold start. But the problem didnt go away. I put my hand down to the muffler to feel whats going on, and occasionally the car wants to suck the exhaust in, instead of out. This happens almost every 10 sec or so. Im really new to DSMs, what could be the problem? Thanks in adavance,

Luis.

Nobodys ever heard of this? I guess Im sol.

I've never heard of our cars doing it before.

Not sure about "sucking in", but when my EGR transducer went on mine, it had a ridiculously rough idle, but was fine when driving. The idle was like a Harley, would shake things inside the house if I had the car running in the driveway (there is a fart cannon on my car that was there when I bought it, which would make things worse).

Not sure if that's your problem. I yanked one out of my buddy's Neon (He bypassed his EGR) and it ran fine. Took a couple starts for the computer to recognize it, though.

What is an EGR transducer? If that went out wouldnt that throw a CEL light?

I know what I said in the 1st post sounds wierd but, I did put my hand on the tip of the muffler, and it runs normal but every ten secs or so the exhaust seems to pull on my hand. The exhaust blow out as normal then every so often the exhaust sucks in for a split sec. I did notice that the engine shakes whenver this occurs. Im confused.

Mine never threw a code. Not sure why, mind you. It's this little dongle-type thingy that runs to a vacuum line for the EGR. I think it runs elsewhere, too. Not too sure.

Speaking of which, did you check for vacuum leaks? I believe they can cause a car to run shitty like that.

Ill try and find what your talking about tomorrow. And no I didnt check for vaccume leaks. How would I go about doing that? thanks

Luis.

Well it has no vaccume leaks. My buddy checked for me. Also could you post a pic of what your talking about? Is this transducer circular kinda? Cause all the lines to that are fine. lmk thanks

My buddy says that its probably a sticky valve. So Im planning on taking the head off and getting it all cleaned up. Ill let you guys know (if you even care) what happens.

Luis.

Originally posted by hnda8r
Nobodys ever heard of this? I guess Im sol.

My mother's Corvair did that back in the 70's the motor got wet on the inside and ran backwards the next day :)

Good news is they did get it fixed so don't worry.

Yup, most likely a valve problem. You can try to run some seafoam thru there and see if that helps before ripping the head off. Removing the head is a big job.

Hey thats funny that you said that cause thats what I just did. I seafoamed it, and hopefully by me driving it alot, it would get rid of that problem. Thanks for the advice, and Ill keep yall posted.

Well Ive been driving it around alot, Id say around 50 to 70 miles, and the exhaust still sucks inward. I put seafoam in the crankcase, and the TB. Drove it 10miles then got a fresh oil change, and nothing. Soooo I have no choice but to rip the head off and start investigating. Looks like its going to be a long process.

Luis.